Journey to hell
by Droom
Summary: Romano and his little brother enlisted on a trade ship. But before returning home, their ship has been captured by pirates.
1. Chapter 1 Surrounded by water

**((Not really sure whether to continue this or not))**

The seagulls flew high in the sky before diving down, grabbing fish out of the water that were dumb enough to go to the surface of the sea.

Romano looked at them absentminded. The noise the birds made sounded like they were laughing, they were laughing at his brother and him.

He woke up from his daydreaming when he heard someone was talking to him with a raised voice. ''Ey, mate! Name!'' the man sat behind a desk in front of Romano, a writing feather in his hand, waiting to write his name down in a book, covered in dark red leather. ''Vargas, Romano Vargas'' he replied, frowning slightly in irritation. ''And my brother Feliciano Vargas'' The man didn't even look up anymore. ''Age?'' he asked. Romano's eyes wandered over the table, stopping when he saw a piece of bread, his stomach aching terribly of hunger.

Their parents had died when they were very young, their grandfather had taken them into his house, to take care of Feliciano and Romano. About two months ago, grandfather had died too.

Romano and Feliciano couldn't pay the rent anymore and they had been thrown on the street.

_Flashback_

''_Fratello, I'm hungry'' Feliciano whined, grabbing the sleeve of Romano's shirt and tugging on it. ''Damnit! Quit whining right now, crybaby! You're not the only one!'' he snarled back, frustrated while jerking his sleeve away from his little brother. He regretted his words immediately when he saw the change in the expression on Feliciano's face. ''Hmpf…'' Romano sighed irritated. 'We'll go the church'' _

_The priest was never happy if they went to the church to bed for food or money, annoying the people who went to the church. But the priest and the people weren't the only ones who hated the begging ant the front of the church, Romano did too. Begging was below his dignity. Although he even didn't have a house to sleep in, his honor was very important to him. Feliciano clearly had less problems with begging, hunger was worse than losing your good name. _

_After about twenty minutes, the priest had spotted them, grabbed a broom and shooed them away from the entrance of the church. ''Get a job!'' he shouted at them, while Feliciano and Romano ran away to the alleys. _

_End flashback_

'Fifteen and he's fourteen'' Romano said pointing at Feliciano. When he saw his little brother open his mouth to say something. Romano subtle stepped on his foot to silence him. The writer watched at Feliciano with a measuring look. ''He's small for his age but he's strong!'' Romano said quickly. The man waited for another moment before nodding, although it was clear the man didn't trust Romano's words.

''There's the ship, the Lieve'' the man said with a monotonous voice, pointing at a ship behind him. ''Get on board and pick out one of the hammocks''

Romano grabbed Felicianos shoulder and walked on the plank to the ship. Feliciano hadn't been happy when Romano told him they were going to enlist on a trade ship. He had heard about the horrific rumors about what happened to sailors. Dying of all kinds of illnesses, getting drowned by a mermaid or the ship being sunk by a kraken. Or even worse, not dying and ending up in a far away country as a slave.

But they had little other choice, they couldn't keep living on the streets, begging and stealing for their survival. They had to make the gamble.

They picked two hammocks in the corner of the space below decks, there were a few men already there, busy with their own stuff.

Feliciano looked a bit pale, laying in his hammock. Romano felt sorry for him, his little brother was just twelve years old. They had to lie about their ages, otherwise they wouldn't have been hired and most certainly died in the cold winter. Romano himself wasn't fifteen either, he was thirteen, almost fourteen.

Although the hammock was made of rough fabric, it felt so much softer than the streets. Romano had difficulty keeping his eyes open, the eyelids were getting heavier. But he lost the fight and ended up in a dreamless sleep.

By the time he woke up, all of the hammocks were occupied. Romano felt sick, seasick. He could feel the ship moving on the water.

Romano jumped out of his hammock and quickly climbed the ladder to the deck, pacing rapidly to the railing of the ship. Just in time, the bread he had stolen this morning ended in the sea meters below him, while he was hanging over the railing of the ship.

He heard someone grinning behind him. ''You'll get used to it, eventually'' a voice said. The man walked next to him an threw a bucket in the fast flowing water, attached to a long rope, before pulling it back on board and handing it to Romano.

Romano was a bit surprised by the saltiness while he cleaned his mouth and pist the water back in the sea. ''We can't waste any fresh water'' the man shrugged when Romano gave him a questioning look. ''We're on open sea already''

A few minutes later, every crewember was called on deck. The captain introduced himself and explained the rules.

''The Lieve will set sail to Cadiz, we'll arrve there in a few weeks. I demanded unconditional discipline on my ship, otherwise boatswain will help you with that'' the captain announced before explaining the rules on this ship, including the punishments if anyone dared to break one of them.

When Romano looked at Feliciano from the corners of his eyes, he could see his little brother becoming even paler. The rules were strict and the punishments harhs. It could be called a miracle if they would survive this journey to Cadiz, don't even talk about the way back.

After the rules, the Captain returned to his quarters. The boatswain ordered the new crew to get to work, his eyes looking for someone among the men. ''You there! Come here'' he said, pointing at someone next to Romano. It was Feliciano. With shaking legs, Feliciano walked towards the boatswain. ''Get in the crow's nest'' he commanded, while pushing the young boy to the rigging. Feliciano looked like he was about to faint when he looked up to the crow's nest. It was clear the boatswain was getting a bit irritated because the boy was dawdling too much. ''Now!'' he shouted, doing a few paces towards him, raising his hand. Romano was getting angry, how did that man even dare to speak to Feliciano in that manner? He clenched his fists, because at the same time he knew he couldn't do much about it. He was still a just a ordinary ships boy. Feliciano luckily grabbed the ropes and climbed into the rigging.

Romano was doing a silent prayer Feliciano wouldn't fall out and into the sea. But he managed to get at the highest point of the ship, grabbing the wooden railing with his hands tightly. Jones was clearly satisfied, he had found a new outlook. Romano was ordered to clean the deck and make sure the ropes were properly stored away.

The water splashed from the bucket on the deck, before Romano grabbed a brush and started scrubbing the wooden floor. It wasn't very necessary yet, but the boatswain insisted on following the work schedule.

By the time he had cleaned the whole deck, the sun was close to the horizon, coloring the sky red in the evening. His arms ached, not used to the hard work.

When Romano looked at his hands, they were raw and had turned red. He doubted it had been a good idea to enlist, but when dinner was ready, he forgot any hesitations.

They ate on the deck, the ones who were quick, got the most. Romano snatched a piece of bread and pushed it into Felicianos hands before going after his own meal.

He managed to get some more food and went to Feliciano, who ate behind a few barrels, scared that anyone would steal his food, as happened many times before on the streets.

Romano sat down on the rough wooden deck. After quickly eating the piece of bread, he observed his hand, covered with splinters. He tried to remove them from under his skin.

The other crewmembers had started drinking rum and singing sailor songs. It sounded awful, like cats calling to each other in the middle of the night. Romano stood up from the deck and walked below decks.

In the hammock, he fell asleep, having terrible nightmares about sea monsters sinking the ship. He was woken up a few times when noisy sailors walked around, still shouting and singing before climbing into their hammocks.

The next morning, Romano was again seasick. He hoped he would get used to the rocking movements of the ship quickly, because it felt horrible. His muscles ached from the hard labor and his hands were still raw.

A few days later, the other men began to notice that Feliciano and Romano always went to bed after dinner, trying to avoid the rough drinking. Feliciano was already downstairs and Romano did the few steps down of the ladder when he got grabbed at the collar of his shirt. ''Let go, bastardo!'' he shouted, while being pulled back.

The men were laughing at the desperate flailing with his arms. ''Don't be such a sissy'' one of them grinned. ''Drink some rum, or are you scared?'' a soft laughter went up from the crowd. ''I'm not scared, damnit!'' Romano snarled, his teeth clenched. A sailor with red hair handed him a pannikin with rum. Romano looked at the dark liquor, feeling the eyes of the crew staring at him. He put the pannikin against his lips and tried to drink it as fast as possible. It burned his throat and Romano started coughing, his face turning red.

The men couldn't stop laughing anymore, making Romano feel even more embarrassed then he already was. He had only drank liquor twice before in his life, both times wine stolen from his grandfather. Rum was very different from the sweet red wine.

But he wasn't going to give up this easily, being humiliated and then walk away. There was still a bit of rum in the pannikin. He forced himself to drink it empty, the laughter stopped. He could feel his throat being burned for the second time, but this time he was prepared for it. Romano didn't feel very well but at least he had earned a place among the crew.

The man with the red hair refilled pannikin. Songs were sung and stories were told.

All of them with stories how they got on this ship. One of them didn't have any money left anymore so he had to reenlist, although he had sworn last journey that he would never put a step back on board. It was too dangerous, especially long journeys. And this one brought another risk, the pirates in the south, aggressive and without mercy.

A few guys had been drunk in a bar and some man walked towards them, making them sign a piece of paper. That's how they got on the ship, they were also the ones who drank the most rum, clearly not learning from their previous mistake.

A young man, barely eighteen, had been kicked out of the house, his father told him to go and make his own money.

Romano was glad they didn't ask about his story, most man had passed out or went to their hammocks. After the sun had vanished completely for at least two hours, Romano got up, having difficulty to keep from falling. He stumbled down the stairs, unable to think clear. Romano almost missed his hammock and could barely grab a pole to prevent hitting the ground.

The next morning, a headache surprised him. The men were laughing again, telling him that he will get used to it. Romano hoped it, any tiny sound hurt like hell.

He was glad his little brother hadn't been giving any liquor yet, he knew for certain Feliciano would handle it even worse.

A few weeks later, they were almost at their destination. Romano had gotten used to rum and the hard labor. And they had still not been eaten by krakens or that kind of monsters or being lured into a trap by mermaids. Romano was actually starting to enjoy sailing, it was better than having to steal and beg for your food.

When he heard shouting from the crow's nest, he looked up from the deck, seeing his little brother waiving and pointing at something at the horizon. The boatswain paced towards the mast and called to Feliciano to come down, because of the hard wind he was barely hearable.

Feliciano climbed down, experienced by the past weeks. He looked pale, although the sun had tanned his skin. ''Ship… horizon…'' he stuttered. The boatswain wasn't a very patient man and shook his roughly at his shoulder. ''Flag! What color was their flag?'' he asked, the crew noticed a bit of fear in his voice. The boatswain was normally a confident man, not scared of anything. If he was getting scared of a unknown ship, that must mean trouble. ''Bl…bla….'' Feliciano said, while being rocked back and forward. He didn't finish his word but the boatswain let go of him and began shouting orders. ''All hands on deck! Hoist the sails! Sharp to starboard!'' The captain, alarmed by the shouting, came out of his quarters.

Romano ran towards the want, climbing up to the yard to remove the ropes around the stored sails. His hands were shaking slightly, now he was high up on the ship, he could see the other one coming closer at a fast speed. The sail fell down, wind being captured behind it. The ship was slowly starting to make speed, with all the sails down. Romano rapidly climbed down the want, everyone was running up and down the deck, some were rolling canons to the sides of the ship. ''No need for that!'' the captain said. The crew stopped for a moment, giving him a not understanding look.

''We don't have any cannonballs. Otherwise we wouldn't have enough space to store the tradable things.'' A few men began cursing out loud at the captain for being irresponsible, knowing they had to cross pirate territory. Normally, that would have resolved in a flogging by the boatswain for disrespecting the captain, but even the boatswain was infuriated.

Romano got a short sword pushed into his hands by the red haired man. He was a bit too shocked to move. Were they really supposed to fight the pirates off? Blood thirsty pirates, used to fighting, in contrast to the crew on this trading ship. But judging from the others behavior, it was clear they wouldn't surrender without a fight. Feliciano was gone, Romano couldn't find him anywhere. He hoped his little brother had taken cover somewhere.

The captain was missing either, only the boatswain was shouting his orders to everyone. Romanos heart pounded loudly, adrenaline rushing through his veins. Although all the sails were down, the pirates were advancing. Romano could already see them pacing up and down on the deck.

He was scared to death. They were so close to the harbor, after that they could sail back home. Romano never wanted to board a ship again, everything, anything but he never wanted to go through the same panic as now. He saw men doing a few short prayers, while loading their guns.

Romano decided to follow their example, quickly folding his hands and doing a quick prayer. He had never been a very believing person, but at this time he could get all the help he could get.

When Romano could see the faces of the pirates, he was starting to feel really scared, doing a few paces back, almost stumbling over a rope. The black flag was waving through the wind, showing a skull and two crossed blades.

Grappling hooks were thrown over the railing, Romano followed the example of the rest of the crew by cutting the ropes so the pirates wouldn't be able to climb on board. It seemed to work in the beginning, but it didn't took long before they managed to get on board somehow.

The stories he heard about them were true, a few pirates had eye patches and they didn't look very friendly, armed heavily. They were shouting in a foreign language, fighting the crew as hard as they could. They weren't following the rules in fighting, like one against one. No, they were fighting like real pirates, without any rules or boundaries.

Romano did a few paces backwards, his back protected by a wooden wall. He heard screams in agony, blood flowing on the wooden deck. And even more pirates jumped on board, they were by far in the minority.

One of the pirates turned his head when he saw Romano, smirking before walking towards him, the sharp rapier pointed at him. Romano tried to keep a determined look on his face, grabbing his own sword with both hands and keeping it in front of him. One step closer and he would pierce that pirate on the blade.

Romano gritted his teeth and did another step back, seeing other crew members fight against the pirates with all their might. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain, giving him a terrible headache. He saw the pirate in front of him smirking.

His sword slipped out of his hand and fell on the floor, making a tangling sound. Black spots appeared in his sight, making it difficult to see. He saw the pirate coming closer to him. Romano growled low at him before collapsing at the wooden deck. Before his whole world went black, he could only think about what happened to his little brother.


	2. Chapter 2 Fresh bread

When Romano again woke up, he couldn't see anything, it was too dark around him. ''Romano'' a voice whispered to the side of him. Then the headache came back, Romano flinched in pain and moaned softly. When he tried to touch his head, he noticed his hands were tied together. ''What the…'' he muttered frowning. ''Romano'' the voice whispered again, this time a bit louder. Romano turned his head and saw a figure just a few feet away from him. ''It's me, fratello'' the voice said again. It took a while before Romano realized it was his little brother. ''Feli!'' he said, before again grabbing his head in pain. ''Sshh. Don't be so loud'' Feliciano whispered.

Romano heard laughing upstairs on the deck. ''Where are we?'' he asked, although he knew the answer the second he asked the question. They were on a ship, a pirate ship. Romano tried to remember how he got here. But before the memory came back, a shutter opened, bright daylight fell in the brig. Romano could now see who the other prisoners were, there were about 10 others in two different cells. The captain and the boatswain were missing and Feliciano and he were separated by metal bars.

A pirate walked down the stairs, bread in his hands. He threw the food in the cells before looking at each of the prisoners. Romano shot him an angry glare back. The pirate turned around and started walking to the stairs, when Romano heard a familiar voice. The captain was still alive! He wasn't down here in the brig but probably above on the deck. He sighed relieved.

The rest of the crew had already started tearing the bread apart. Romano reached for his share, but his hand got slapped away. ''I'm hungry!'' he said irritated. One of the crew gave him a vicious look, not giving him any food at all. Feliciano also wasn't very lucky, being pushed back roughly every time he got a bit too close to the bread.

Romano was getting really frustrated at this point and reached for the bread while cursing out loud. This time, the crew wasn't as patient as before, one turned around and violently punched him in the stomach, sending him back flying against the metal bars.

Romano gasped for air, clutching his stomach and glaring furiously at them, but to no avail, they just ignored them.

The next few days, it didn't go any better. Romano and Feliciano were getting really hungry by now, barely getting any food or water. On the fourth day, Romano didn't even try anymore to get the food, just sitting back at the back of the cell, leaning on the wall.

On that day, the captain of the ship came down to the brig. He was immediately 'greeted' by the prisoners with loud cursing. The captains, whose face was covered by a mask and a ridiculously large hat on his head, just ignored them, let his eyes wander through the cells, stopping briefly when he saw Feliciano and Romano.

They probably didn't look very healthy after four days of not eating and barely drinking anything. '' Onlar hasta mısın?'' the captain asked the pirate who had brought the prisoners food every day. '' Bilmiyorum'' the man replied, although not as full as confidence as usually. The captain turned the key in the lock and opened the door, grabbing Feliciano and pulling him out of his cell.

''Ey! Keep your dirty hands of him!'' Romano shouted furiously, standing up and walking towards the door of the cell. Feliciano was slightly trembling as the captain grabbed his arms and streched them out. He took a piece of skin of the Italians arm between his thumb and indexfingers and pulled it up before letting go again. Instead of the skin immediatly going back to its place, it seemed like it was moving in slowmotion. The captain turned to the pirate. '' Su sıkıntısı'' he concluded. Neither Romano or Feliciano could understand what the pirates were talking about.

Romano was also pulled out of his cell. '''Let go of me, bastardo!'' he shouted furiously, trying to jerk his arm free again. But the pirates followed the captain and pulled Lovino and Feliciano upstairs, to the deck, almost making him trip over his own feet. Over there, they saw the captain and the boatswain. But unlike the crew in the birg downstairs, they weren't tied up and were certainly not starved to death.

They were just chatting with eachother, eating some chicken and walking around over the deck. Romano couldn't believe his eyes, what was going on?! But before he could say or do anything, he was dragged over the deck, almost tripping over his feet. He and his brother were tied to the mast with a chain around their left ankle.

Feliciano was still slightly shaking. '' Su'' the captain commanded one of the pirates, who walked away. '' Onlara hasta olmak zorunda değil ya ölü '' Romano scowled at them, one by one. Why couldn't they talk a language he could understand? The pirate returned with some fresh water, giving it to Feliciano and Romano.

When Romano noticed it was drinkable water, he drank that quickly, he almost chocked on it, water spilling and running down from the corners of his mouth. A few pirates grinned, but the captain was more serious. '' Onlar dehidratasyon ölüyor, başka bir gün bunu yapmış olmaz. Idiot'' he told the pirate who had given the food the past few days. '' Hiçbir mal, para yok. Neden bunu anlayamıyorum?'' he sounded a bit angry, although he managed to keep his voice down. The pirate muttered something back, staring at the ground.

After drinking the water, Romano was again focused on the actions of the men in front of him. A few returned to work, the captain ordered something else. ''Damn pirates'' Romano snarled softly. The masked captain turned back to him and crouched down in front of Romano, grabbing the chin of him. ''That not very nice'' His face was just inches away from his.

_The man can speak English!_ Romano thought surprised. The captain was handed a loaf of bread, his hand streched towards Romano. Romano tried to grab the bread but the captain quickly held it out of reach for him. A frustrated expression appeared on the boys face, who stood up from the floor and walked towards the captain, as far as the chain around his ankle would let him. But everytime he was almost able to snatch the bread out of the mans grasp, the captain backed up.

''Give it to me!''Romano shouted irritated. ''No'' was the short but clear reply of the captain. It was quiet for a moment, neither of them made a move, just staring at eachother. Then a voice next to Romano broke the silence. ''Please?'' Romano turned his head and gave Feliciano a questioning look, asking a pirate?!. The bread was thrown to Feliciano, who caught it still in the air, before splitting it in half and giving the half to Romano.

''Good boy'' the captain said, before he turned around and walked back to his quarters. Romano scowled at them. ''Why did you ask?!'' he snarled to his little brother, slightly angry. ''Because I was hungry and otherwise he would have surely given us nothing'' Romano was still not happy with what Feliciano had done, but his stomach started protesting, wanting the food really bad.

In the mean time, the captain and the boatswain had also disappeared out of their sight. Romano raised his eyebrow, where did they go? But he quickly started eating the bread, Feliciano had already finished his bit. They hadn't eaten in days and even a half loaf of bread wasn't enough to stop the hunger.

They traveled for a few more days, the captain and the boatswain didn't appear anymore and Romano was starting to believe he had just dreamt they were still alive. They were given food and water every day now and it wasn't as boring as in the brig.

Romano was glad the sail on the mast protected them from the sun, it seemed like it was getting hotter and hotter every day. Romano leaned back on the wooden mast, staring at the sky and the seagulls. Wait... seagulls? That would mean they were close to land! ''Feli!'' he whispered, poking him with his elbow to wake him up. ''We are close to land''

And indeed, a few hours later, they could see a small piece of land in the distance. But instead being green and full of trees, it was made of sand and no plant was anywhere to be seen. The pirates got to work, busier than usual. They got all different kinds of treasures on deck, from silver to silk, from diamonds to gold.

Everything was piled up in the middle of the deck. Romano stared at it all, he could remember some of the things belonging to their ship de Lieve. Mentally, he slapped himself, of course, this were pirates! Of course they stole everything on board of de Lieve. That was their 'job'.

The captain also appeared on deck, giving orders in the strange language. The ship approached the land, but it didn't go to the harbor. The ship was too heavy and it would run against ground before reaching the port. Little boats rowed towards the big ship, a few men climbing on board.

The captain walked towards them and greeted them, leading them towards the pile of stuff. The men checked the quality of the fabric, made absolutely sure the gold and silver were real and held the diamonds against the light. One of them walked towards the captain, talking to him. The masked man shook his head and said something back. This argument went on for a few minutes before they both nodded and the new man gave a moneybag to the captain.

The other men started moving the pile of stuff to their own boats. The captain again started talking, signing to a few of the pirates who went down to the brig, returning with the crew. They didn't look very healthy, after being locked up, far away from daylight for that long. Their hands were still tied together, connected with each other with a long piece of rope.

Romano was slowly starting to realize what was about to happen to them. He cursed the day they had enlisted on the ship, for it would be a high price to pay. If they had still lived on the streets, they would have most certainly died, but they would have died in freedom.

The man who had handed the captain the money, looked at the prisoners, measuring. '' Ne kadar?'' he asked the captain. The answer certainly didn't satisfy him. '' Onlardan fiyat sordu, olmayan gemi fiyatı'' The captain didn't move. '' Bu onların fiyat'' The two startled haggling about the price.

Finally, they seemed to have come to a compromise. The man turned and pointed at Feliciano and Romano. '' Onlar da'' The captain again started discussing, a few times pointing at the brothers tied to the mast. At the end, the captain sighed and signed to one of the pirates. The pirate with an eyepatch in front of his left eye did a few paces towards Feliciano and Romano and untied them, pushing them towards the rest.

Shortly after that, they were tied up with the rest and pushed towards the were narrow vessels, barely able to keep above waterlevel because of the heavy load. Feliciano kept close next to Romano, afraid of what might happen to them.

It was also then when Romano saw the boatswain and the captain again, sitting in another boat. When the arrived at shore, the captain and the boatswain were awaited by another man, most likely someone from the VOC. The man handed some money to the pirate and the captain and the boatswain climbed into the waiting carriage.

''Bloody bastards'' the redhead grumbled. Romano raised an eyebrow, looking at him, his head tilted. ''The VOC payed the ransom for them. Unlike for us, we're just ordinary crew who can easily be replaced.'' He spat the words out in anger, glaring at the leaving carriage. ''We're trapped in this hellhole.''

Romano couldn't believe it, was the VOC just going to abandon them just like that? He felt as lonely as the day their grandfather had died. He stayed as close as he could to Feliciano, trying to keep him calm. He thought it had to be far worse for his little brother, who was still very young.

They were pushed towards a busy market, full of people, talking the same strange language as the pirates had been speaking for the last couple of days.

At the back of the market, there were people that even looked more miserable than they did, just staring into the nothing. The crew was pushed into a cage. Feliciano was close to starting to cry. Romano tried calming him down by speaking Italian, the language of them and their grandfather. '' Io non ti lasciano in pace'' It seemed to work, his breathing became calmer and he wasn't as panicking as before.

But that soon changed as the door of the cage was opened again and Feliciano was pulled out of it, away from Romano. ''Ey! Bastard! Let go of him!'' Romano shouted infuriated, grabbing the metal bars. But his shouting was lost in the noise of the market.

The merchant pushed the shaking Feliciano to the man with a very pale skin and light hair. The stranger checked Feliciano shortly, pretending to hit him in the face just stopping in time to check if he was blind or not. Feliciano jumped back, not understanding what was going on. He looked at his elder brother with a look of fear. '' Yeterince iyi'' the man with the white hair said nodding, while giving the merchant money. He and another man, a bit taller, turned and walked away, Feliciano dragged with them. ''Fratello!'' he shouted in panic, fighting to get loose. ''Romano!''

Romano felt desperate, unable to help his little brother. He could see Feliciano had started to cry, before he disappeared in the crowd.

That night, Romano was also staring numb. Some of the crew were gone and the rest was asleep. But Romano couldn't get to sleep, he had lost his little brother. He hadn't even had the time to say goodbye. Was he ever going to see Feliciano again?

He had promised his grandfather to look after his little brother after he died, to never let him out of sight. And now he didn't even know where he was, in a strange country with a language they couldn't speak or understand.

He buried his face in his arms, pulling his legs up to his chest and he silently began sobbing. Romano hadn't been able to save him from harm. It was his fault they had ended up here in the first place. Feliciano didn't wanted to go to travel on a trade ship, but he had insisted and that's why this all had happend.

The next morning, a man with half long blonde hair appeared on the market. Romano hadn't payed much attention to him until the merchant dragged him out of the cage.

The man grabbed his arms, checking them for any injuries or scars. The two man started talking in a rapid pace in the strange language. Romano just looked around, hoping for a possibility to escape, to search of this little brother Feliciano. But it seemed there were even more people than yesterday on the market. Before he would disappear in the crowd, the merchant would probably have grabbed him in his neck again.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp tug on his wrist. The man wanted to start walking, after handing the money to the merchant. Romano glared at him, but started moving. He was surprised by the amount of foreign people in this town. Probably because it was a trading city, a lot of pirates were seeking refuge here when chased by a royal navy. Here, they wouldn't stand out in the crowd.

The man took him away from the market, towards much calmer streets. There was a signboard outside of the store which they entered, a loaf of bread. Romano exspected the man was a baker.

His assumptions were true, it smelled like bread inside of the store. He stopped for a moment, hungry. Bread was stalled out in front of the story, in the back there was still bread backing. But the man wouldn't let him look for to long, still dragging him furthur to the back of the store.

There was a door, he opened it and pushed Romano in. ''Tu'' he said, pointing at Romano. ''Restez'' before pointing at a matress in the back of the room. Romano couldn't understand his words, they sounded strange and unfamiliar, but he thought the man meant for him to stay here.

The man left again and Romano heard a key turning in the lock. He quickly paced towards the door and tried opening it, of course unsuccesfull. Sighing, he let himself fall down on the matress, pulling the blanket around him.

The only thing he could think of, was a way to escape and find Feliciano. But what after that? They were still in a foreign country, he didn't even know where exactly! It took a while before the man returned, but when he did, he was only there for a few moments. He threw a piece of bread to Romano and pointed at himself. ''Francis''

Romano quickly bit down on the bread, to satisfy his growling stomach and raging hunger. He glanced shortly at the man. ''Romano'' he said back, his voice cold, before again turning to the bread and eating it. When he looked up, the man was gone again.


	3. Chapter 3 Boulangerie

Romano let the last bag of flour drop of his aching shoulders in the storage chamber on the pile of other sacks, white powder flying into the air. '' Sois prudent!'' Francis shouted from the front of the store when he heard the dull thump, clearly not happy with Romano's carelessness for the food.

Romano muttered something irritated back, but Francis was too far away to hear the words, which would have certainly Romano gotten into trouble if hearable.

Francis was careful to keep Romano away from the customers, because he was very aware of the fact that Romano had a pouty mouth. Although Francis tried to teach him otherwise, he continued cursing at almost any occasion.

For now, Romano's most important job was to keep the storage chamber full of flour and other supplies to bake bread. Twice a week, a chart from the mill came by the bakery and delivered the flour, if any extra flour was needed, Romano was send to the mill. Just after carrying a few sacks of flour, his shoulders would start aching terribly, getting worse with every step he did.

Romano walked out of the storage chamber, his face, hair and clothing full of white powder. He left a cloud of flour wherever he walked. Francis helped the last customers, before turning around to give Romano even more chores. His eyes widened when he saw the mess Romano was making. ''Damien!'' he shouted, looking in horror at the floor, he wanted to keep the store clean for customers. Francis had renamed Romano because he thought Romano was impossible to pronounce and also because he thought Damien would be a better name for Romano, it fit his personality more.

''My name is Romano, not Damien'' Romano replied irritated, but Francis didn't even seem to notice his words. That Frenchman had no right to take his name away just like that.

'' Nettoie!'' he said, pointing at the white powder on the floor. Romano didn't move a muscle, glaring at the French man. Although he couldn't understand any French, it was clear what he said, clean the mess up. Romano was still worried about what had happened to Feliciano, why would he do anything until he knew where Feliciano was?. Francis sighed deeply and pushed him to Romano's room, grabbing some clean clothing and handing them over to Romano.

Romano ruffled through his hair, a cloud of powder flew into the sky, at least his hair was some kind of clean now. He quickly stepped in the new clothing, a few moments later, the Frenchman opened the door and threw a bucket and a mop to him. '' Nettoie!'' he said again, this time his voice a bit more stern.

Romano growled something back before going out of the store and filling the bucket with water at the square, just outside of the bakery, before returning to the store. He could hear Francis at the back of the bakery, probably in the storage chamber, checking if everything had been delivered.

With the mop, he cleaned the floor, the water in the bucket turned opaque with the flour. Romano did a step back to clean the last piece of the floor, accidently knocking the bucket over. Water flowed over the floor and at that very moment, Francis returned from the storage chamber. '' Qu'avez-vous fait?! Idiot'' he called out in utter shock, Romano turned around and saw Francis staring at the mess, even worse than before his 'cleaning'. Francis breathed a few times deeply, trying to regain his calmness. '' Cinq minutes'' Francis told him, still staring at the floor, before walking out of the store, to calm down a bit.

Muttering curses, Romano again mopped the floor clean. He shouldn't be wasting his time cleaning the bakery, he should be looking for Feliciano. In the three weeks he had been living here, anything could have happened to his little brother. Every time Romano was send to the market to get supplies, he took at least twice as long as required, hoping to catch a glimpse of Feliciano.

But until now, he hadn't been that lucky. He didn't even know if Feliciano was still alive. Romano actually hadn't seen anyone of the crew of the Lieve. It seemed like they all had disappeared from the earth. He just hoped Francis hadn't gone to the tavern, the Frenchman was normally reasonable except after going to the tavern after getting angry.

When the Frenchman again walked into the store, he was clearly satisfied that Romano had finally listened to him, instead of making even a worse mess. Romano was also relieved that he didn't smell any alcohol around Francis. He rummaged through the left over bread and found some small triangle formed bread roll, throwing it to him. Romano caught the food when it was still in the air, biting down on it. It was much sweeter than normal bread, a bit confused he looked at the filling, consisting out of raisins and maybe some apple.

Francis was counting the money, writing something down on a paper and recounting the money, absent minded staring at the bread that hadn't been sold that day. If Romano was lucky, they hadn't been many customers that day and he would get the left overs, which almost happened every day.

The bags of flour were heavy and Romano wasn't sure how long his back was going to hold them, but according to what he heard from the others when getting water from the pump or extra flour from the mill, he was very lucky with Francis. He even got food every single day. Not everyone could say that. It was probably because in France, where Francis originally came from, it was not common, or maybe even forbidden to own another human being. Not used to this, he was more caring and not as ruthless as most of the citizens of this city.

Others would get beaten if they had knocked over the bucket of water, like Romano had done. Even if it had been just an accident. The worst that could happen to Romano was Francis cursing at him or not getting any food for the rest of the day. It could have been a lot worse. Romano hoped Feliciano had also been as lucky as him.

After another few weeks, Romano had finally gotten used to the weight of the flour, he didn't let bags drop anymore when they were about of slip of his shoulders. He was still forbidden to enter the front of the store when the bakery was open for customers, because his cursing hadn't diminished even after weeks and weeks of Francis trying to make Romano stop the cursing.

Romano had even gotten used to his new name, Damien. If he wasn't paying much attention, he reacted to the name if called, before remembering it wasn't his real name.

But Francis was acting strangely last time, leaving for hours late at night and returning drunk, even when Romano hadn't irritated him. Romano always stayed away from him when he had been drinking too much and was totally wasted. It was the only time when Francis was unpredictable and the only time that Francis would actually hit him.

It wasn't like Romano was scared of Francis, no, he would never admit that. But he did think it would be wiser to stay away from the Frenchman when he woke up late at night, hearing Francis coming back while singing loudly.

The next day, Francis would be very quiet and easily irritated, probably a hangover from the previous night. At those days, Romano had to be more careful, otherwise he would know for sure he would get any food at all for that day.

But if Francis wasn't drunk or having a hangover, he was nice.

These days of drinking seemed to become more frequent and Romano didn't hear many customers enter the store anymore. The delivery orders for flour were less often and there was less brought to the storage chamber. The only positive thing about it, was the leftovers. Instead of just bread, pastries were left over and given to Romano.

A few weeks later, men started showing up, from the early morning until late in the evening. Romano couldn't understand much of what the men were saying, but one word kept being repeated. Para. And the French man always shook his head. Romano was well aware they weren't any customers but who they were, he couldn't figure out.

Until that one evening, Romano was cleaning the counter after being asked by Francis numerous times, before he really got mad and hit Romano. Francis was being irascible, but Romano couldn't remember he went away to drink wine. Maybe he really crossed the line this time, so he quickly grabbed a rag after considering for a moment to start cursing at Francis in anger.

The French man looked exhausted, sinking down on a chair in the corner of the store and just staring at the wall. Romano focused on the counter, still a bit angry at the man for hitting him. 'Je vais retourner en France. Je ne peux plus payer le loyer' these words broke the silence, they sounded dull. Romano had learned a lot of French after spending about two to three months with Francis, but he still couldn't understand everything. It had to do something about France, Francis homeland.

Maybe Francis was that irascible and down because France lost another war against England? Those two countries would be fighting forever and ever. But wait, then Romano had to have heard the word Angleterre. Romano kept his eyes focused on the counter, trying to get rid of that stains in the wood.

Romano understood the meaning of those words only the next morning, when he was roughly woken up by some unknown person. Growling curses, he resisted and tried to jerk his wrist free, but the man wouldn't let go, his hand like a bench vice around his wrist. Romano could see Francis in the doorframe, leaning on the side, a saddened expression on his face.

It wasn't about a war between England and France, no. The men who showed up for the past weeks, were indeed no customers but bailiffs, seeking for their money. It was about Francis not been able to pay the rent of the store anymore because of the lack of customers lately and he would return to France again. He was broke, out of cash, penniless, he probably hadn't even the money to get back to France again.

The stranger was stronger than Romano was and pulled him out of the room, past Francis. Romano sent him an angry glare, not even telling him anything. Not knowing what was next to happen, that was the worst part for Romano. Being pushed and pulled to anywhere, losing his brother without knowing where he was or still alive. And Francis had done the same thing, like it hadn't been worth it to tell Romano.

Francis didn't own anything anymore, the storage chamber was empty and to pay the rent for the last few weeks, he had to sell anything he owned. The man handed Francis the money, the money to return to France.

Just before the door behind them closed, Romano snarled something to Francis. ''Salaud!'' The Frenchman stared at him, before turning around to never look back, heading to the harbor. Romano was dragged the other way, still trying to get away.

''Let go, you bastard!'' he shouted, not wanting to go back to that uncertainty. The man clearly had enough, stopping and turning around, an angry glare on his face. '' Kapa çeneni!'' he snarled, striking Romano harshly across his face, making his shut up.

The man pulled him further, Romano remembered the streets when he shortly looked at the houses around them. They were going back to the market.

There, he was pushed into a cell. There were already about four to five others, about the same age as he was. Romano walked to the back of the cell and sank down there, leaning on the wall. It seemed like he hadn't improved any since the pirate attack, he was in a similar situation now, behind bars and locked up. Only this time, Feliciano wasn't there.

He was starting to think he might never see his little brother again. Hours later, a few voices outside of the cell became louder and louder, footsteps were coming closer. Romano had pulled his legs up, his arms around them and rested his head on his knees, almost covering all of his face.

''Ey, ist er ihn nicht?'' a voice spoke up. Romano didn't even bother to lift his head when he heard the door being opened.

**And as requested, the translations**

**Soyez prudents! = Be careful! **

**Damien, comes from the word Daemon in Latin. Means demon. **

**Nettoyer! = Clean up**

**Imbécile = Idiot**

**The weird bread thing= appelflap (Don't know the English translation, I don't even know if you guys know what it is.) **** .nl/search?hl=nl&q=appelflap&psj=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&biw=1261&bih=625&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=urY_UIWnOOep0QXxzoHgCg**

**But I can tell you, delicious!**

**Para= money **

**Je vais revenir****à la France= I'm going back to France**

**Je ne peux pas****payer le loyer= I can't pay the rent anymore**

**Angleterre= England**

**Salaud= bastard**

**Kapa çeneni****! = Shut up**

'**Ey, ist er ihn nicht = Ey, isn't he him? (will be explained in the next chapter)**


	4. Chapter 4 The Beilschmidt Brothers

**((I'm really sorry this is such a short chapter, but I'm very busy right now))**

He felt a hand on his upper arm, pulling him roughly on his feet. ''Let go!'' he shouted angry, glaring at the person who had grabbed his arm. The white haired man suddenly let go and Romano stumbled back over his own feet, hitting the wall hard with his head. It gave him a headache, grabbing the back of his head and scowling at the man.

''Hm, nein, er ist ihn nicht'' the man said to someone else, just outside of the cell. ''Aber er sieht wie ihn aus. Vielleicht eine Zwillinge?'' The person behind him, walked next to him, looking down on Romano. He was a bit taller, with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. ''Vielleicht seine Erscheinung aber bestimmt nicht seinen Charakter.'' The red eyed man grinned at that.

Romano was still glaring at them with anger in his eyes. He wished he could understand what they were saying. But just listening to the tune of their words, he could already hear the disdain in their voices.

They were much taller than most people around here, especially the blue eyed one. Clearly, they weren't from around here. Somewhere from Europe? But not France, because he would have understand them if they spoke French. Their language sounded barbaric and rough.

The blonde man did a step forward and grabbed Romano at the back of his shirt, pulling him up again. With his left hand, he held Romano still and with his other hand he flexed Romano's arm, who was struggling to get free.

'' Önce işini?'' The blonde man asked the man who had dragged Romano to this cell. '' Bir ekmek bir iş'' The two strangers exchanged a look with eachother. ''Ich weiβ nicht. Er hat keine gute Manieren. Er ist frech'' The blonde said to the red eyed one, getting slightly irritated at Romanos desperate tries to get free from his grip.

The other one nodded in agreement. ''Aber vergess nicht, wir sind fast Pleite'' The white haired turned to the merchant. '' Ne kadar?'' he asked. ''600'' the man shortly replied. The two men didn't even look at the others in the cell, already starting to discuss about the price.

At that moment Romano was also getting too frustrated to say quiet, his arm had fallen asleep under the pressure of the hand. ''Let go this instant, bastard!'' he shouted in anger, pinning his nails in the mans arm. It was really starting to hurt and he wanted to be let go immediately.

''500!'' the man quickly said, sending a furious glare to Romano and stepping forward. But before he could reach Romano, the blonde already reacted to Romano's cursing. A hand struck across his face, leaving a red mark on his cheek. Romano hadn't been expecting the blow and he shut up.

''400'' the white haired man said. Immediately after that, the merchant began complaining loudly, Romano again heard the word 'para' being said a lot of times. But after a while of arguing, they seemed to agree. Romano was still very angry, how dare he hit him?! That man should just let go of him this instant.

He wasn't scowling at them anymore, although he wasn't sure why he didn't. Of course, he didn't want to get hit again. But still, it was their damn fault! Romano glared at the ground, feeling his cheek burn and the firm grip in his neck.

He almost lost his balance when the blonde man dragged him back, flailing with his arms to keep standing on his feet. The red eyed one was still talking with the merchant, counting money and handing it over to the greedy man.

The tall man continued to drag him further back, by then Romano had already turned around so he wouldn't stumble over his own feet again. But the man wouldn't let him do even one little step the another side, his hand almost crushing him neck, preventing him to escape. The other man followed some time later, starting to talk to the blonde.

Romano was guided through the streets, to unknown part of the town. The mill and the bakery were at the other part of the city, this part was totally unknown to him. Maybe he could find Feliciano here. He felt bruises forming in his neck, when he again took a step in the wrong direction, he winced slightly at the pressure applied to the already painful neck.

Romano growled in irritation, looking from the corners of his eyes to the two men. They were still talking to each other, obviously they knew the route by heart. Romano felt little while walking next to them, the blonde was at least twenty centimeters taller than him and the red eyed one wasn't much smaller.

After a long walk, Romano could see gates in front of them. They were outside of the city now, it looked like the walls surrounded something. Romano was a bit curious but he also hoped they wouldn't go in there. How would he be able to search for his little brother if he was locked up behind those gates?

Feliciano would probably be in the city, not behind those walls. Romano dug his heels in the sandy ground beneath him, as if it would help. The blonde one did another step, before noticing Romano wasn't walking anymore. An irritated frown appeared on his face.

His hand let go of Romanos tortured neck but grabbed his hair, pulling roughly and walking towards the gates. Romano grabbed the hand in pain, whine softly, but he did start walking again. ''Let go'' he snarled softly, tears of pain welling up in his eyes after another sharp tug.

The man didn't seem to hear him and shouted something to the guard up the wall. A few moments after that, the gates opened and Romano was dragged inside, unable to look back, but he did hear the gates close behind him again.

He felt a bit claustrophobic, if he was locked up here, he would never find his brother again! But when Romano looked in front of him, he saw little houses, not having a second floor and barely any bigger than the bakery. It looked something like a tiny village, only the houses were strictly ordered, not one standing out, all the same color and standing in rows.

Romano saw a lot of men carrying pistols, guns and swords. Most of them were clearly from around here, but some were as pale as the two men next to him and others as black as coal. There were also boys from around his age, instead of weapons, they were carrying buckets of water, food or other stuff.

The two men walked to the back of the camp, then to the left and they stopped at one of the last 'houses', unlocking the door and walking inside, pulling Romano with them. He was relieved the man finally let go of his hair, a headache was the only thing that reminded him of the rough treatment.

Romano looked around, the house seemed to be divided in three parts. First, something like a hall, it was small, barely a few feet long. Behind that, there was a room with a lot of armor, swords and guns. If you looked further, in another room, there were two beds visible, one on the left and one on the right.

There weren't any doors, except for the front door. Romanos observing of the house was disturbed by talking of the shortest of the two. ''Was ist deine Name?'' he asked, but to Romano, it just sounded like a blur of words.

A bit confused, and irritated because he wasn't able to understand the words, he looked at the man. ''Name!'' the blonde repeated, again grabbing his neck. Romano pulled away from his grip, he did understand what the other one said, or he hoped he had understood it correctly. ''Romano'' he growled back, earning an glare from the blue eyed man.

It took some time before Romano was able to understand them. Especially the blonde one was impatient, not really caring if Romano was able to understand that barbaric language. But it seemed, before Romano, they had already had an Italian. Because after some time, a few Italian words made clear where Romano was right now.

He was at a army base, those men were brothers and mercenary soldiers from Germany. Romanos job was to take care of the house and armor, making breakfast and dinner and treating any injuries.

Their Italian wasn't very good and it took some time for Romano to piece everything together. Before he could understand everything, the blonde started with a huge list of rules, glaring at Romano.

He wasn't allowed to get out of the army base at no circumstances. He wasn't allowed to get out of the house unless to get water at the pump or food at the storage. He would make breakfast before the sun would rise above the horizon and dinner had to be ready when the two brothers returned from training. He had to address to the both of them as Herr Beilschmidt. And more and more rules were told.

Romano scowled irritated, he would never be able to remember all of those rules. And getting out of bed early was never something for him. In the bakery, he made sure the floor and other ingredients were ready at the end of the evening, so he could sleep some longer the next morning. If he was lucky, Francis wouldn't even call him before the shop opened.

_**I would really not advise you to use any of these sentences, first of all: I don't know any Turkish and it's probably wrong. Second of all: Germans are very reserved people and they want people to treat them with respect. Gilbert and Ludwig aren't treating Romano with respect, so they call him with du and dein(e) instead of using Sie. If you ask for someone's name in German, say Was ist Ihre Name. Otherwise you can get insulted Germans.**_

**Hm, nein, er ist ihn nicht= Hm, no, he isn't him **

**Aber er sieht wie ihn aus. Vielleicht eine Zwillinge?= But he does look like him. Maybe a twin?**

**Vielleicht seine Erscheinung aber bestimmt nicht seinen Charakter= Maybe his appearance but surely not his personality. **

**Önce****işini****?=Job before?**

**Bir****ekmek****bir iş= Job at a bakery**

**Ich weiβ nicht. Er hat keine gute Manieren. Er ist frech= I don't know. He doesn't have any good manners. He's rude. **

**Aber vergess nicht, wir sind fast Pleite= But don't forget, we are almost broke**

**Ne kadar?= How much?**

**Was ist deine Name?= What's your name?**

**Name!=Name!**

**Herr=sir/mr.**


	5. Chapter 5 A wire

((sorry for short chapter, but I had to update something))

Romano woke up when he was roughly pulled of his 'bed' on the floor. Opening his mouth, ready to start cursing at Francis for waking him up like that, he saw the unfamiliar face standing next to him. It took a moment before Romano realized he wasn't at the bakery anymore.

Ludwig started shouting en cursing at him, Romano couldn't understand what was wrong because the language was strange to him. Gilbert was pacing up and down through the rooms, grabbing weapons, putting on his boots and quickly eating some bread.

Then Romano remembered he had to make breakfast in the morning, before the sun would rise. And when he looked past Ludwig, he could see it already was light outside. The blonde man noticed Romano wasn't paying much attention to him anymore, gripping his arm a bit rougher and pulling him up.

He continued shouting and cursing at him, glaring at him. His brother was already in the hall, fastening his sword belt, calling to his brother.

Romano had recovered from the first surprise, being woken up this roughly and scowled back. It wasn't his fault he hadn't woken up! He had just been tired, like anyone should have been. The man let go of him and paced towards the door, just before slamming the door behind him, he turned around, shouting something to Romano and pointing at the house.

Romano was alone again, feeling his arm ache, that was surely going to leave a bruise, he thought. He muttered some curses under his breath, before turning around and walking to the back of the house.

His 'bed' was made of a pile of old clothing, rags and even a half empty straw bag. His blanket was full of holes and too thin to keep him warm. Yes, too thin, although it was very hot at daytime, it was freezing cold at night.

Romano decided he first had to do something about his own comfort, he wouldn't want to sleep like this again. It took a while before he gathered the stuff he needed, a bucket with clean water, soap, a needle and thread.

He had learned how to close holes in fabric on the ship, sails often got holes in them and it was important to close those, to maintain speed.

The first times, he had pricked himself in his fingers, it hurt and the other sailors had made fun of him, having soft hands, still able to feel the needle pricking in his skin. But after a while, he was finally able to close a hole without pricking himself.

Romano separated the clothes and rags, first throwing them in a round wooden tub. The water he fetched at the pump, walking up and down a few times. He thought it was too much work to heat the water up, but cold water would also do fine.

It was hard work to clean the fabric, which had clearly hadn't been cleaned for a long while. Soon, Romano was slightly panting, wringing the water out of the rags. After every single pieces of them had been cleaned, he strained a wire in the armor room, hanging the rags over them.

Next, the bag with straw. It smelled bad and the color was dark. The bag also got washed and the straw was throw away.

Romano was busy with all of this stuff, getting new straw, closing the gaps in the rags and again putting everything back in the corner of the bedroom. It still looked poorly, but at least it was clean.

After putting the tub, soap, needle and thread away, Romano looked around. It was clear the brothers had left in great hurry, clothes throw on the bed and over a chair, bread still on a small table and the beds unmade.

It was also clear that there hadn't been people around here for a long time, or at least nobody had cleaned it, thick layers of dust in every corner.

Romano frowned, he had never liked it to work for Francis but working for these soldiers was even worse. Francis always seemed happy after he had done even the smallest chore, rewarding him with pastries, cookies or something else. Romano doubt if he even would get bread over here.

With very low motivation, Romano gathered the clothes, cramming them in the drawer. He pulled the blankets over the beds, before going to the hall to get the broom.

He was halfway the armor room, when the brothers returned, somewhere about 5 or 6 o'clock. They seemed exhausted, especially the red eyed brother.

The tallest of the two looked at the room, checking everything, he frowned in irritation when he noticed not even half of the chores were done. He paced towards Romano, who was still standing in the armor room.

And then, suddenly, like being hold back by a magical force, Ludwig was stopped, grabbing at his own throat, making gasping sounds. Romano frowned in confusion, what was wrong with him?

Ludwig started coughing and did a step back, still clutching his throat. Gilbert was also confused by his brothers actions. He looked at Romano, like he had done something. Then he noticed the reason why Ludwig was grabbing his throat , a wire strained across the room.

At that time, Romano had also noticed the wire, he had forgotten to put it back. Because he was shorter than the Germans, he had been able to walk under it without getting strangled in the wire. But Ludwig had walked into it, not able to see it in time.

By the time his coughing stopped, he glared at Romano. The Italian did a small step back, he wasn't scared, no he would never be scared, but the soldier wasn't looking really friendly either. Romano spotted the red line across his throat from the strangling wire.

''Du verdammte Junge!'' he snarled, going towards Romano, making sure not to get trapped again. The Italian stood his ground, grabbing the broom as if it could be used like a weapon.

But Ludwig grabbed the broom, pulling it out of Romano's hands before hitting him across his face. ''Was denkst du das du machst?!'' He shouted, grabbing the collar of Romanos shirt and cutting of his air supply. ''Uns ermorden?''

Romano struggled to escape his grip, grabbing his hands and trying to pry them away. He started to see black spots in his vision, his knees feeling like pudding

Gilbert seemed a bit calmer than his brother, putting a hand on Ludwig shoulder. ''Vielleicht war es ein Unfall, ein Irrtum.'' Ludwig let go of Romano, the Italian gasped for air, his face red like a tomato because of the lack of oxygen. He dropped on his knees, still panting.

Du verdammte Junge= You damn kid/boy  
Was denkst du das du machst= What do you think you're doing?  
Uns ermorden= killing us  
Vielleicht war es ein Unfall, ein Irrtum= Maybe it was a accident, a mistake.


	6. Chapter 6 Breaking bones

''Ein Unfall?'' Ludwig snarled back. ''Natürlich, ein Unfall um uns zu ermorden'' he replied sarcastically to his older brother. The blonde again turned to Romano, grabbing him again and throwing him against the wall.

The little air he had still left in his lungs was immediately beaten out of him. Romano thought he had heard a few ribs breaking, that soldier was far too strong.

When he saw Ludwig walking towards him, still clearly furious, he flinched, putting his arms in front of his face. ''Genüg'' a voice growled, it was the one with white hair. He stopped Ludwig.

Romano quickly stood up, feeling sharp stings in his chest. ''Genüg'' Gilbert repeated, calming his brother down. He shortly looked at Romano, before pointing at the fire place and saying something the Italian couldn't understand, but he did go outside to get some wood.

He hadn't had the time today to get wood so he hoped there would be enough for tonight, otherwise he was sure he would be kicked out in the middle of the night to get some more.

There was enough to start a fire, the soldiers were in the back of the house, one of them reading, the other one carefully wrapping bandages around a wounded arm from practice.

Romano hadn't expected that he had really broke some ribs, but he felt it when he lifted the wood. He tried to walk as carefully and quickly as possible to keep the pain low and bearable.

It was already getting cold outside, the fire slowly starting to burn in the fireplace. Immediately after Romano was done with that, Gilbert looked up from his book and sent him to the armory in the house to take care of the swords and shields.

Romano took the swords and wiped them clear of the dust and blood on them. They were still sharp enough so they didn't need to be polished. With the shields he had more difficulty. After cleaning them also, he stared at the gaps.

The shields were made of woven reed, training shields. At some places, the reed was cut and the shield was weakened. But he had absolutely no idea how to fix this kind of damage.

''Er ist nicht sehr klug, hmm?'' Ludwig said to his brother, done with bandaging his injured arm. It seemed like he calmed down a bit.

''Du, kleiner, komm her'' before whistling through his teeth, like you would do to a dog. Romano didn't immediately react, only putting the shield back in place. Was the soldier really calling him like some kind of pet?

An irritated frown came over the blondes face, holding three fingers in the air. ''Ein…zwei…''while putting the fingers back down again. Romano moved towards him, still not very quickly but he did walk towards him.

They let him work for a few more hours, thinking of every chore they could find, before finally allowing him to go to sleep. And indeed, in the middle of the night, he was woken up by the red eyed to get some more wood, the fire was almost gone and it had became cold inside of the house.

But this time, Romano did wake up on time the next morning, although he still felt exhausted and the pain in his ribs. He pushed the rags of him and got up.

He felt hungry, it had been afternoon since he had last eaten. Romano glared at the sleeping Germans, he shortly thought about turning a bucket of water above the blondes head. But he also thought about the consequences that would result in it.

''Svegliati!'' he said while shaking the albinos shoulder. The only reaction was, that the German turned away, grumbling something back and pushing Romano away.

Another try had the same outcome, then the other soldier. Romano had actually hoped the albino would wake up and wake his brother. Romano still hated blue eyes for breaking his ribs.

But he know had little other option, he walked over to the other bed and tugged on his shoulder. The eyes shot open, ice cold blue staring back at Romano.

The Italian jumped back, man, that German was scary. He scowled at him, not saying a word. The soldier pushed the blankets of him and got up, nearly pulling his brother out of bed, earning a lot of cursings.

''Du, Frühstück'' he ordered the Italian, when Romano didn't move, he pointed at a loaf of bread. This time, they had woken up in time, calmly putting on their clothes and grabbing their weapons. In the mean time, Romano cut the bread into pieces. There wasn't very much of it and it smelled awful, compared to what Francis made.

The soldiers quickly grabbed their piece of bread, eating while getting ready. The blonde seemed less patient than the other one, while Gilbert pointed at things that had to do something with chores, taking his time knowing Romano didn't know the language, was Ludwig less understanding, snarling and snapping at him.

''Figlio di puttana'' he muttered when Ludwig had again pushed him aside harshly, making his ribs hurt. Ludwigs head snapped back. '' Ne so abbastanza per capire italiano, idiota'' Romanos eyes widened when he, for the first in weeks, heard something speaking to him in Italian. He hadn't exspected the German to speak Italian, although it wasn't without errors, it was still understandable.

How did he even learn Italian? There weren't many Italians around here. The two soldiers left the house, Gilbert threw a piece of bread to Romano, before pointing him to his first chore of the day. Reparing the shields, the Germans had taken the extra ones to practice with today.


	7. Chapter 7 He's alive!

He had to weave the straw of the practice shields again together, sometimes replacing it. Especially in the beginning, he thought it was difficult, straw breaking after he just fixed it. But after a while, he became better at it, the second shield cost the half of the time he had needed for the first one.

But he wasn't completely focused, still wondering how that German was able to speak Italian. The straw cut his hands open with small scratches, leaving his hands raw and red.

Romano stood up from the ground, picking the shields up and hanging them on a hook on the wall. The straw had covered the ground like a golden rug. Romano sighed and looked around, if he took that much time just to clean the rags, how much time would he need today to finish all the chores?

Sweeping the floor, cleaning the blankets, getting wood for the fireplace and making dinner. How was he ever going to finish that in time?

Putting the door open to sweep the dust and straw out, he saw others had already started their chores, getting water or doing the laundry.

Romano quickly grabbed the broom and went to the back of the house, beginning in the bedroom to clean it out. It was still dusty everywhere, when it flew into the air it made Romano sneeze a couple of times.

His chest still hurt from yesterday, he was sure some ribs were broken. That German had absolutely no self control, if his brother hadn't been there, Romano would surely be beaten a lot worse than he had already been.

After sweeping the floor, he went back to the bedroom to get the blankets. Those blankets were much thicker and still without any patches. Romano carried them to the armory, the ends of the fabric dragging over the floor.

He pulled the tub into the middle and threw the blankets in before grabbing two buckets. He sighed, it would take a long time to get enough water to clean the blankets and wash them out again.

Romano didn't even mind about heating the water, that would take even more time and it wasn't really necessary anyway. The pump wasn't far away, just walk to the main street and there it was.

Pacing up and down between the pump and the house, he got several buckets of water, having to wait for a long time in the queue of other servants. His shoulders ached painfully and his chest was even more painful.

And he couldn't stop focusing for a moment, otherwise some other servant would have stolen his bucket full of water. He had seen the dark haired kid just in time, snatching his bucket back and shouting curses at him to chase the thief away.

The water in tub turned dark, but Romano didn't want to get any new water, he just threw in the soap and started washing the blankets. Although his shoulders and shoulders were already aching, he didn't stop, knowing he was short on time. And he didn't want again want to be the punch bag of Ludwig.

With all his strength, he pulled the tub to the door, throwing it over to let the water get out. The blankets had been a grey color, now they had lightened up a bit.

They at least smelled a lot better now. Romano looked shortly at the main street, the queue had vanished. The Italian growled irritated, if he had waited a bit longer he wouldn't have wasted that much time on standing in the queue.

Romano grabbed the blankets, being careful that they didn't touch the ground and walked towards the pump. It was much easier to wash the soap out now he only had to pump water instead of also carrying the buckets.

In no time, the blankets were done and he carried them back. The next thing he had to do was a lot more difficult, putting the wire back up.

Tears appeared in the corners of his eyes when he reached above his head to fix the wire, his chest felt like it was being ripped apart. Gasping in pain, he doubled over, carefully clenching his chest.

''Just one more…'' he whispered softly, moving over to the other side of the room. The second one was easier, because there Romano could use a hook instead of having to tie it up.

The sun was already at the highest level, burning down without any mercy. Instead of getting his own wood, Romano searched the camp for any wood left behind. It wasn't much and certainly not of a good quality but it would do. He would get some better wood tomorrow.

It was just like in the streets of his hometown, looking everywhere to find food. He and his brothers, from early in the morning until the sun had disappeared again. His brother… He didn't even know if Feliciano was still alive. A painful sting went through his heart when he remembered his brother. He missed him so much.

While putting the pieces of wood in a pile, he started thinking. Where could he find out if his brother was still alive? And how would he be able to escape? It wasn't uncommon here to be a begger, just like they had used to be. But this would bring new troubles, they didn't know the city and if any of their masters ever found out where they were, they would be in huge troubles.

Especially these soldier brothers, Romano was sure they would never let their property disappear just like that. The Italian could be considered lucky if he survived the anger of the blonde after finding him after his escape. Romano had been that busy with the wood and thinking that he hadn't heard the Germans entering the house.

He jumped up startled when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. The red eyed German burst out in laughter. The other one had first put his armor away and checked the repaired shields. ''Er hat die Schielden repariert, aber ich muss sagen das Feli klüger war''

Feli… the name of his brother! Romano immediately pay attention. '' Dove si trova Feli?'' he asked quickly, hoping for an answer where his brother was. It seemed like the Germans knew what happened to his little brother.

The soldiers looked at him, disturbed in their conversation. The shorter one of them didn't seem to understand him, the blue eyed German seemed to do but didn't reply, maybe still angry with Romano because of yesterday, it had left a red line on his throat, clearly visible to anyone. If the other soldiers found out how he got that, he was sure to be laughed at, a trained soldier beaten that easily by his servant.

But it was clear he realized that Feli had to be Romanos brother, he knew that for sure, looking very much alike although mostly in appearance and most certainly not in personality.

Romano repeated his question, this time skipping all the Italian. ''Feli, Feliciano'' The albino nodded, replied in the not understandable German before looking at this brother. ''Ludwig, sag ihn doch'' maybe a slight tune of irritation.

''Nein, warum?'' The other replied, putting his arms over eachother like a spoiled kid. ''Wann ich ihn sage, dann fließt er ab. Nein, ich sage ihn nicht was mit seinem Bruder ist passiert.''

Romano looked from the one to the other, why didn't they just tell him? He was desperate to find out what had happened to his brother. The blonde turned to him, pointing at the fireplace and saying something in the strange language that Romano still couldn't understand, apart from a few words.

But Romano stayed put stubbornly, he had to know where Feliciano was. ‚' Dove si trova Feli ?'' A hint of anger was visible on the Germans face. ‚'Jetzt!'' he shouted furiously, hitting the Italian harshly and roughly pushing him towards the fireplace.

The brothers kept discussing, the one refusing to do anything, the other trying to convince him to tell Romano, for he himself spoke no Italian. Romano quickly lit the fireplace, hoping that the soldier would tell him then.

But Ludwig kept his mouth shut. He kept ordering Romano around, doing all the chores that he hadn't finished that day. Gilbert also shut his mouth, watching Romano as he worked his ass off to get everything done before giving his brother a surprised look.

It indeed did work, Romano completed the tasks in no time, even with his broken rib. Dinner was ready and even after Romano had done everything else, the German still wouldn't say a word, slowly eating his meal.

Romano was impatient, it seemed like the German was eating as slow as possible, just to push the Italian to the ends of his nerves and patience.

The eldest brother didn't make any attempts anymore to convince his brother to tell the Italian where his brother was. He joined in the game, eating slowly and not even looking at Romano.

After Romano had also finished the dishes, cleaned the armor and put extra wood on the fire, the blue eyed one opened his mouth finally.

''Venduto'' Almost, almost, he had been that close. And now that German just told him that he had sold his brother. '' A chi?'' Romano replied quickly. '' Non lo so'' his short and not very useful reply came back.

'' Perché?'' The German shrugged. '' Una guerra, l'esercito partì. Non poteva venire con noi'' Romano was finally getting some information, his brother had lived for at least a couple of weeks, maybe months. And maybe he was still alive!

'' Quando?'' The German seemed annoyed by all the questions. '' Due, tre mesi fa'' Romano opened his mouth to ask another question, but Ludwig got up from his chair and walked towards his bed, ignoring the Italian totally.

Gilbert soon followed, tired of the long day of training. Romano could still not believe it, the one moment he had no idea if his brother was even alive. And the next, he found out that these soldiers had owned him before himself.

Owned, Romano was getting used to that word, although just a year ago he would have laughed at anyone who would have said that this would happen to him and Feliciano. What a nonsense, nothing like that would ever happen to them, and still it had. He should have listened to the warnings of others about enlisting on a trade ship, he regretted that now.

But he was going to find his brother and get him out of this hellhole, no matter what. According to what he had heard of the other slaves, every few months the army would have been called to fight in some war as mercenary. They would sell most of them, some of them would be rebought after the war was finished, there were always soldiers not returning to the camp.

But the Germans didn't do that, it was too expensive, the local merchants knew that soldiers would pay good money to get their old slave back, raising the prices, sometimes even double them.

The Germans sold their slave, to get a new one the next time they were back. The same would happen to Romano, he was sure about that. And at that moment, he would run away and go find Feliciano to get back home.

He didn't know how he was going to do it, maybe again enlist on a trade ship to their homeland. Even if they had to walk home, Romano would do it. Everything to get their old life back. Although it had been hard to get food and shelter, they still had their freedom and that was worth more than food.

It took a long while before Romano finally fell asleep on the rags. ''I'll find you Feli'' he muttered softly, just before he drifted away in restless dreams.

**Er hat die Schielden repariert, aber ich muss sagen das Feli klüger war= He has repaired the shields but I have to say that Feli smarter was.**

**Dove si trova****Feli****?=where is Feli?**

**Jetzt!=Now!**

**Venduto=Sold**

**A chi= to who?**

**Non lo so=don't know**

**Perché?=why?**

**Una guerra, l'esercito partì. Non poteva****venire con noi= A war, the army left. He couldn't come with us**

**Quando?=when?**

**Due, tre****mesi fa=two, three months ago**


	8. Chapter 8 A army heading out for battle

Romano was glad he had a Italian skin color, others from the northern countries burned here easily, they always had to be careful for the sun. His ribs had stopped hurting, maybe they had been healed by now.

Ludwig was still growling and snapping at him for every little mistake which he made, sometimes even beating him for it. Romano tried to stay out of his way as much as possible. Gilbert on the other hand was much calmer, he also bossed Romano around but without beating him if he failed.

He had gotten experienced in repairing weapons, it took the half of the time that had taken him the first few times.

That time he used to wander around the camp, trying to figure out when and how he was going to escape. Romano learned that the towers were always guarded, especially the ones next to the gate. He was getting pretty desperate, almost no one entered the camp, and even fewer left it.

The sun was slowly disappearing behind the horizon when Romano noticed he was late. Way too late to make dinner. Food was supposed to be ready when the soldiers returned, which was around this time. He hurried back to the small house, hoping that the brothers had not returned yet.

Reaching his hand over to the doorknob, he pushed open the door. Stumbling inside, the first thing he saw was the blonde soldier, not looking really happy. The man was maybe a foot and a half or two bigger than him, shouting at him.

Romano did a step back, a vivid memory of that kick in his ribs coming back. But the German leaned forward and grabbed his wrist, dragging him inside of the house, slamming the door behind him. Slightly panicking, Romano looked around, his eyes wide open in fear. Where was Gilbert?

Last time, Gilbert had stopped him brother from killing Romano. Now, he was nowhere to be seen, except for Ludwig and Romano, the house was empty.

His wrist was grabbed that roughly that Romano thought the bones in his arm would break any minute. Romano flinched, knowing what he could expect.

Now Gilbert was not there to stop him, Romano could only hope that he would get out of it without too much damage. Ludwig was clearly pissed off that there wasn't any food ready, after a long day of training he was certainly hungry.

The first blow hit Romano in his face, a bloody nose as the result. But with that, it wasn't over yet. Before he could brace himself for the next impact, pain exploded between his ribs, luckily not the one that had been broken recently.

He curled up on the ground to protect himself for any other damage, his arms in front of his face. But the man didn't seem to care, it just continued to rain blows down on the small boy on the floor.

The next one was a lot harder, Romano saw the German having a stick in his hands to beat him with.

It was only when Romano stopped trying to get away from the blows and was curled up, panting and trembling, when Ludwig stopped, still obviously furious.

The Italian saw him walking through the small house, up and down, getting rid of his armor.

Finally, the door opened again and the other brother walked in, seeing Romano laying on the floor, not moving like he was dead. ''Was hast du getan?!'' Gilbert shouted angrily, going towards his brother. His arm was wrapped in white bandages, already staining red.

Now, Romano finally thought it was safe enough to move, slowly trying to get up from the floor, his whole body aching, there were already bruises starting to form, feeling like he had fallen down the stairs.

The white headed man slapped Ludwig in the back of his head with his not injured hand, not really hard but hard enough to make clear that it had been a stupid action. ''Was geht's du jetzt tun? Warum tötest du ihn nicht? Das hast du fast schon getan, hm?'' he snarled irritated. He walked back to Romano, lifting him off the ground with ease, not even bothering that he couldn't use his right arm.

Romano noticed that he had lost a lot of weight in the last few months, his ribs were visible beneath his skin. And the fact that someone could just pick him up with one arm.

Gilbert put him down on one of the two beds and got some water, washing the blood away in Romanos face. The boy was still trembling heavily, scared and in pain. He knew Ludwig had little patience but he was really starting to wonder if the blonde would kill him the next time he screwed something up.

In the mean time, the youngest of the brothers had left the house, Romano calmed down a bit but kept a close eye on the door in case he would return still angry. He flinched when the piece of cloth touched a cut right above his eye.

After taking care of Romanos injuries, Gilbert grabbed some bread and divided it into three pieces, he didn't think the kid would be able to cook a meal tonight. Romano was already asleep when Ludwig returned, a lot calmer but also a smell of alcohol around him.

''Idiot, you and your temper. You could have killed him, he isn't as tough as a soldier'' Gilbert snarled irritated with a hushed voice. ''And what if you had killed him, he's all the money we got right now. Dead meat isn't even worth a penny''

Ludwig growled something not understandable back, ignoring his brother. But Gilbert wouldn't give up that easily. ''You know we will head out with the army soon, tomorrow is the last day we will be able to sell him to the market, next week we will be long gone. And we really need that money''

The next morning, Romano wake up, his body still aching while seeing Ludwig and Gilbert packing up some weapons in their army bags. He frowned, they never had done that before.

When Gilbert noticed he was awake, he ordered Romano to wash his face, gave him some bread before packing in more stuff he would need on the battlefield. Ludwig in the mean time grabbed him in the neck, practically dragging him outside of the house.

Romano flinched, expecting to face a beating again, but he was actually rather surprised when Ludwig took him to a man, standing in the center of the camp, already a lot of other slaves standing there.

It took less than two minutes before Ludwig left again, leaving Romano there, his wrists tied up to prevent running, tied to the others. Romano didn't understand, what was going on?


End file.
